Brandon School District prepares another tough budget with $1.2M in cuts

The well-regarded Brandon School District hasn't been immune from unstable funding.

The district has reduced expenses by about $1.2 million, but is still expected to draw nearly $1.5 million from its rainy day fund in the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years in order to balance the budget.

"We still are a very good district, and we work very hard to maintain our academic programming for our students, as well as athletics and the arts," said Superintendent Lorrie McMahon. "We are doing a lot more with a lot less. Brandon's still a great place to get a good education."

Jan Meek, the district's executive director of business services, said that Brandon is spending down its fund balance and entering its fifth year of running an operating deficit.

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"Our fund balance in 2008 was $5.5 million. Due to state cuts and enrollment declines and a lot of things like that, we've been spending the fund balance and we're at $1.1 million, or about 5 percent," she said.

Meek told the school board that 2015 "is the year we're looking at perhaps spending all the fund balance, or going into a deficit."

The district receives the bare minimum per-pupil funding allowance from the state, Meek said.

Trustee Le Anne Schmidt asked if there's anything the district can do to receive more per-pupil funding from the state, the source of nearly 82 percent of the district's revenue.

Meek replied: "Absolutely zero."

Another concern: the $73.4 million bond proposal passed by voters in 2006 and used for capital improvements, including the construction of Oakwood Elementary, a new football stadium, building improvements and the I-TEC Center.

Due to a smaller property tax base, the money collected from the millage levied for the bond proposal is no longer sufficient to cover debt service payments.

The district will collect about $4.1 million from its 8.24 mill debt retirement levy next year, Meek said, but its bond payment is $7.6 million.

"What this means is, in order for us to make our bond payments, we will be borrowing $3.7 million from the school bond loan fund," she said. As of June 30, the district will have borrowed $38 million in order to make its bond payments.

An audience member reacted during Meek's presentation to the amount borrowed: "That's a lot of money ... holy smokes."

Meek said the 2006 bond was based on a "set of assumptions, and they were based on a taxable value increase and based on things that did not come to fruition because of a collapse in the housing market."

Recent changes at the school district have included a reconfiguration of its elementary schools to kindergarten through third grade, with the fourth grade being moved to Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School. Belle Anne Elementary is now home to the district's alternative education and post-secondary programs, and H.T. Burt Elementary is being closed altogether.

The projected number of students in October is 3,097, down about 90 students from fall 2012.

In May of last year, the district privatized custodial services and laid off 28 teachers, recalling many of them in the fall. McMahon said the district currently has one teacher laid off. Salaries and benefits account for 75 percent of the district's budget.

"We can't anticipate yet whether that person will be called back or not," she said.

At a recent school board meeting, a board member voiced his frustration with unstable school funding.

"Every year we're sitting here like this, every year waiting for Lansing to tell us what our numbers are now, waiting for them to change and then waiting for them to change again," said Secretary Christopher Yuchasz.